Funding approved for Army Reserve Center in Harrisburg area, flood monitoring on Susquehanna River

The Patriot-NewsU.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, above, and Robert Casey announced the allocation of $7.6 million for an Army Reserve Center and $2.4 million for flood gauges on the Susquehanna River.

Federal funding for an Army Reserve Center in the Harrisburg area and flood-monitoring gauges on the Susquehanna River were among several items approved by Congress in an announcement Monday by U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Robert P. Casey.

The $7.6 million for the reserve center was requested by President Barack Obama, the senators’ offices said.

The center would include room for training, maintenance and storage, and would be built on 10 acres of government property. The center is necessary for Brigade Combat Teams when deployed to combat areas, according to information supplied by the military.

Further details on the center and where it would be built were not available Monday night.

The $2.4 million approved for monitoring flooding on the Susquehanna River would reverse cuts imposed by President George W. Bush late in 2008 that would have resulted in the loss of 14 stream and 14 rain gauges.

Those gauges were described at the time as crucial for forecasters to watch flooding on the river.

Dauphin County Commissioner Nick DeFrancisco on Monday praised the return of the money.

“River staging is extremely important to us from an emergency management standpoint, especially during a heavy rain incident,” he said.

“It allows us to make decisions on how many hours we have, so those flood gauges give us a great opportunity to predict flooding and we don’t have total chaos. They’re critically important to us,” he said.

The Senate voted to pass the bill Sunday 57-39, and the House of Representatives approved the measure Thursday. The projects are part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, a measure which contains funding for several federal agencies, as well as for local transportation, housing, health, education and law enforcement programs.